Picture: Mamusa Local Municipality logo/Google
By OBAKENG MAJE
The embattled Mamusa Local Municipality is amongst those that failed to submit their Annual Financial Statement. According to the North West MEC for Finance, Motlalepula Rosho, two municipalities in the province requested an extension, which was granted.
Rosho said with the exception of Ditsobotla and Mamusa Local Municipalities, whose request for an extension, 22 municipalities submitted their AFS to the Auditor General (AG) on 31 August 2023 for auditing as legislated by Section of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA).
“The submission of the AFS aligns with Section 126 (1) of the MFMA, which mandates the accounting officer of a municipality to prepare the AFS and submit them to the AG for auditing within two months after the end of the financial year, which ended on 30 June 2023.
“The AFS submission was attended by all in the accountability ecosystem, including Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), Municipal Managers, Mayors and Executive Mayors,” she said.
Rosho said both the Provincial Treasury and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs have played a key supporting role in line with Section 154 of the Constitution to ensure municipalities are strengthened and adequately capacitated to execute their mandate.
She further said they also ensure that, municipalities submit quality and credible AFS. Rosho added that, in conjunction with other initiatives by the National Treasury, the North West Provincial Treasury, has developed an innovative 40-day Audit Action Acceleration Plan (AAAP).
“We want to applaud the programme as one of its kind, unprecedented, and designed to address issues highlighted by the AG in previous audit reports.
“The AAP offers clear directives to municipalities on their roles and responsibilities, which involves developing and executing comprehensive action plans,” she said.
Rosho said this includes specific activities to assist municipalities in addressing the findings identified by the AG. She said this approach empowers municipalities to continuously improve by monitoring and revising their action plans, thereby laying the foundation for improved audit outcomes.
“The hands-on support programme is poised to yield sustainable results and thereby positively impact the operational efficiency of municipalities.
“We are optimistic that the progress achieved through the APP will lead to improved audit outcomes and will assist in establishing a more robust and accountable municipal governance landscape.
“The provincial Treasury also assisted municipalities with revenue enhancement strategy and appointment of Provincial Executive Representatives (PERs) for implementation of the Financial Recovery Plans (FRP),” said Rosho.
Meanwhile, reflecting on previous municipal audit outcomes, the acting North West Premier, Nono Maloyi said: “We provide valuable insights into the performance of municipalities. The received reports over the past few years highlight the financial and operational challenges confronting our municipalities.
“The AG’s report on the North West municipalities provides valuable insights into the financial and operational performance of our municipalities. It also sheds light on the areas requiring improvement in order for government to bring effective service delivery and financial transparency.”
Maloyi said key among the issues noted is the challenge of irregular, wasteful, and unauthorized expenditure, which hampers accountability and has an adverse impact on service delivery.
He said as they respond to the identified findings, they need to embrace not only the challenges but also the opportunities as part of finding lasting solutions to challenges confronting the municipalities.
“Through collaborative efforts involving government, civil society, and the private sector, we can drive the change required to improve the state of our municipalities.
“As we adopt the recommendations, let us all continuously reaffirm the roles of our institutions and ensure that they are fit for purpose,” he said.
Maloyi said they need to continuously be mindful of the expectations of our people by ensuring that, they deliver quality services. He said AG’s recommendations have consistently reminded them that, they need to enhance financial stewardship in our institutions.
“We need to ensure that we strive to close these identified gaps to move our province towards one that is more responsive to the needs of our communities whilst simultaneously ensuring that we manage to run a cleaner administration,” he said.
The Guardian 